Climate change: US emissions in 2020 in biggest fall since WWII

Post by bluGill » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 9:13 PM UTC

just_steve_h wrote: post #70

The biggest takeaway here for me is that we collectively achieved something previously considered impossible: by making different behavioral choices, as a species, we achieved the largest cut in CO2 emissions in 75 years. It's tragic that only the threat of a deadly disease could compel such a change, but perhaps we may find other levers to help us achieve such widespread beneficial changes in the future?

Post by hntrader » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 9:17 PM UTC

snakeboy wrote: post #98

hntrader wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To what extent has this been rolled out already?

From what I remember from previous discussions, 1. It's more expensive than standard cattle feed so it would need a subsidy to incentivize its use (probably a worthwhile investment for the Biden administration if they're serious about climate policy) and 2. there are some hurdles to massively scaling up the growth of the algae to supply the massive US cattle population.

Post by exporectomy » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #97

breakfastduck wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All it does it prove how fruitless the prevention of climate change is. A total shutdown of the entire world economy on an unprecedented scale still doesn't track enough to prevent climate change. If that isn't a clear indicator of how severe the situation is then I don't know what else is.

Unpopular prediction: we're going to solve global warming by the 22nd century, but we're going to "solve" it with nuclear winter and the destruction of 80-90% of humanity. Once we're down to a billion people or so and most of what passes for advanced civilization has been destroyed, carbon emissions and warming won't be a problem.

Post by openasocket » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

breakfastduck wrote: post #89

just_steve_h wrote: post #70

The biggest takeaway here for me is that we collectively achieved something previously considered impossible: by making different behavioral choices, as a species, we achieved the largest cut in CO2 emissions in 75 years. It's tragic that only the threat of a deadly disease could compel such a change, but perhaps we may find other levers to help us achieve such widespread beneficial changes in the future?

All it does it prove how fruitless the prevention of climate change is. A total shutdown of the entire world economy on an unprecedented scale still doesn't track enough to prevent climate change. If that isn't a clear indicator of how severe the situation is then I don't know what else is.

Post by DennisP » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

ozborn wrote: post #45

gecko wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hydrogen as part is totally reasonable. It gives us hydrocarbon density without us needing to add to the CO2 in the atmosphere. The important thing to remember when discussing it is that it's an energy storage medium, not an energy generation medium. Most of the time I get irritated is when people treat hydrogen as the latter. But if our culture is just too damn wedded to cars for now, and battery tech just isn't the…

The problem is that hydrogen is more likely to be made with steam-methane reforming, not electrolysis using clean energy sources. It is also difficult to store, so I suspect the hydrogen ship has sailed.